The Process for Child Abuse Claims

Making a claim for compensation because you have been abused will seem incredibly daunting. This is why we have a specialist team fighting for justice for your clients.

Once you get in touch, one of our team will assess your case free of charge. Our solicitors offer full, confidential consultations on the telephone. We cover the whole of England and Wales, and will come and see you at home, or at a place of your choosing, if you have a potential claim.

If you believe that you may have a claim, then contact our team for advice online or on 020 7288 4800.
Once we have established that you have the basis of a case, the first thing we will do is discuss legal fees with you. We offer “no win no fee” agreements and more information about how they work can be found on the who will pay my legal costs page.

If we think you have a claim, we will first of all carry out initial enquiries including doing the following:-

If there has been a police investigation, we will ask for copies of your statements

If your abuser has been prosecuted, we will ask the Crown Prosecution Service and the Crown Court for relevant documents

If the claim is for negligence against social services, we may need to review your social services records to assess the possibility of success

Obtain and review any other relevant documents

Speak to witnesses if necessary and agreed with you

Once these initial enquiries have been concluded, we’ll meet with you in person (if you wish) to discuss your claim and agree a plan for all future work. When we have finished the enquiries we will:-

Advise you in more detail about how strong your claim is

If necessary, discuss further funding options

Advise you about time limits.

We may instruct a barrister (sometimes known as ‘counsel’) at this point. We work regularly with specialist abuse barristers and can instruct them on favourable terms

Undertake further investigations including applying for your medical and educational records, as well as any other relevant documents

Instruct a psychiatrist to interview you and provide a report for the case

At this point, we will make the claim to the defendant or defendants, who may be the abuser and/or an institution such as The Catholic Church or the Scouts Association, or a Local Authority. This will typically mean drafting a formal letter to the defendant setting out the detail of your claim.

When we have the reports from the experts and psychiatrist, we will discuss them with you in detail, and at this point we should be in a position to value your claim accurately. From there we will draft the details of your financial losses.

By this time we should have had a formal response from the defendants. If they admit responsibility we may send them the evidence obtained and attempt to negotiate a settlement of your claim. If they do not admit that they are liable, we will issue court proceedings and pursue the case to a trial if necessary. It’s important to note that the vast majority of cases (98%) don’t go to trial but are settled through negotiation.

If you would like to make a claim, then contact our team online or on 020 7288 4800 free of charge and confidentially.